Land use/land cover change dynamics analysis in mining areas of Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh, India

This paper presents results of the study on the dynamics in land use/land cover (LULC), resulting from mining related activities, in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh. The availability of large coal reserves and the construction of Gobind Ballabh Pant Sagar reservoir in Rihand river have provided the necessary impetus to industrial development in the district. Mapping of LULC change is an important activity of land management and monitoring. The changes were mapped using remotely-sensed multi-date satellite in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Spatial and temporal changes in the land use/land cover were quantified using Landscape metrics. In addition, Markov transition matrix and change rate were also calculated for each of the LULC classes. The transitions from one class to the other were depicted with the help of change matrices. The analysis suggests that the vegetation cover is undergoing continuous negative change in terms of composition and extent. The rate of deforestation and forest fragmentation has also increased while built up and mining areas have registered a positive change.